STOCKTON - An armed guard from a private security company shot a man during an altercation at an apartment complex Saturday afternoon, authorities said.

Officers responded to the Grouse Run Apartments on Grouse Run Drive shortly before 4:30 p.m. where they found a man with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, officers and witnesses said.

According to police, the security guard and the man got into a physical confrontation, during which the man took the guard's baton. Fearing for his life, the security guard fired one shot, striking the man and breaking the back window of a white station wagon.

The man was taken to a hospital in critical condition. The security guard was questioned and released.

A woman at the scene told police she was sitting in the station wagon with the man who was shot when the altercation began. She said the security guard used pepper spray before firing his gun.

"We were just sitting there," she said. "Why would you mace somebody just for sitting there?"

"I just heard a gunshot and walked out and saw the guy lying on the ground," said resident Muteb Binnafisah, 24. "The woman was yelling that the guard had no right to do that, but the guard was calm about it."

No one was arrested Saturday, but the investigation is ongoing. The case will be referred to the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office for review, police said.